Abstract
The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is the heart of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell and the contact surface of MEA components plays an important role in the cell performance. In this paper, the effect of the contact surface structure of porous Si based MEA on the performance of the micro fuel cell is discussed. The porous Si substrate is fabricated by the anodic etching to the n type silicon substrate. It is found that the porous Si based MEA works well and a higher power density has been achieved than that of Nafion^R 212 membrane. Also, we find that the nano/microstructures of the porous Si have the advantage of reducing activation over voltage to improve the cell performance.
